The smell of fresh bread will soon be commonplace near Orleans Avenue and Bayou St. John, where a bakery and coffee shop is putting the final touches on its new digs in the former Bibleway building at North Rendon Street. Mayhew Bakery is planning an Oct. 2 opening, owner and chief baker Kelly Mayhew said. Sourdough baguettes are his specialty — he supplies them wholesale to restaurants — but the shop will also offer the full array of coffeehouse fare, including pastries baked onsite. The bakery and coffee shop will be on the Rendon Street side of the building on 3201 Orleans Ave. On the other side, Bayou Works, a shared workspace, is also set to open soon, anchored by Friends of Bayou St. J
Almost felled by the tax reform ax, the historic tax credit, an immensely effective preservation tool still stands—albeit under new forms and rules. While the basic HTC program lives on and still retains the 20% credit, as of December 31, 2017, it has been modified by, in brief, 1) extending to five years the timing for how the credit is taken; and 2) eliminating a sister incentive, the 10% tax credit for rehabilitation of non-historic buildings. Nearly reduced to history itself, the federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit program—the economic catalyst behind thousands of historic building transformations—eluded the congressional chopping block last fall 2017 as legislators rushed to pas
